Pangu’s Creation of Heaven and Earth

illustration of Pangu (God of creations) face - he seems to have 2 horns on his head, long hair a beard and goatee and long moustache.
One well-known legend is the Chinese creation myth, which describes the creation of Heaven and Earth by the god Pangu. (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Does China have creation stories? The answer is yes, and the name of the first creation God is Pangu.

At the beginning of time, the universe was unformed, and Heaven and Earth were unseparated. It was like a round egg, in which there was no light or sound.

In the universal egg lay a sleeping giant named Pangu. He slept for 180,000 years. Then one day, he woke up. Seeing the emptiness of the universe, he was not too satisfied. In one thought, he made a gigantic ax appear. Taking the ax, he broke open the inchoate universal egg.

Pangu creates Heaven and Earth

The opening created new dynamics. Light matter started to float upward and formed what we now call sky or heaven, and dense matter began to condense into what we now call earth.

To prevent Heaven and Earth from collapsing, Pangu held up Heaven while standing on the Earth. He grew three yards taller every day, and with this, the sky became three yards higher and the Earth grew three yards thicker by the day.

himalaya mountain peaks in clouds
To prevent heaven and earth from collapsing, Pangu held up heaven while standing on the earth. (Image via Pixabay)

Another 180,000 years passed, and the sky became immensely high and the earth solidly thick. Pangu also became as tall as the distance in between.

Seeing that Heaven and Earth were well-formed and stable, Pangu died. His limbs became mountains, blood turned into rivers, muscles formed the fields, and his skin and hair became myriads of plants and animals. The air he breathed out formed wind and clouds, and his sound became roaring thunder. His left eye became the sun and his right eye became the moon; his sweat turned into the morning dew and nurturing rain.

Using his body, Pangu created a richly beautiful world, thus starting a new cosmos.

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